The Rash
by DrazzelTiger
Summary: Scotty is beamed off the Enterprise and Kirk, Spock and McCoy come upon a disease while trying to find him. Complete. Painfully unedited and staying that way.


_The Rash_

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything relating to Star Trek aside from this story._

_Rating: G_

_Summary: Scotty is beamed off the __Enterprise__ and Kirk, Spock and McCoy come upon a disease while trying to find him.     _

            Captain James T. Kirk stormed onto the bridge and dropped into his seat, thoroughly upset.  He pressed several buttons on the arm of his chair then spoke. "Captain's log, star date 519-637. Nearly an hour ago, our scans detected a class M planet six light years out of our way. We are now orbiting this planet. Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott was reported to have been beamed from engineering 43 minutes ago.  All of our attempts at finding his exact location have failed.  We are now trying a rescue mission."

            "Do I have to go?"

            "Bones, if Scotty is hurt he may need medical attention immediately." Kirk pulled on his other boot and stood up. From his clothing you would think he was from the medieval era.  Spock and McCoy were dressed similarly, the Vulcan wearing a hat.  They stepped onto a platform and were beamed onto a grass-covered field.

            "Captain, I am reading life signs to the east." Spock was staring intently upon the rectangular prism he was holding in his hand that was putting forth an odd assortment of sounds when pointed to the east.

            "Humanoid?"

            "I can not be certain from this distance."  They walked away from the setting sun for about an hour across huge plains until they reached several, unnatural, self-supported structures. A young human-like man in his late teens exited one of the nearby buildings and came to stand in front of them. He rambled on in an unknown language for a few minutes, in which time the universal translator was able to decipher the terms.

            "So, where are you from?" was the last sentence.

            "We come from the city to the North."  Kirk hoped that, if there was such a city, he had not made his landing party enemies.

            It has been far too long since our tribes have sent word to each other!  Come inside and we can discuss the going-ons of your people." Not waiting for a response the man turned and lead them into the same building he had left.

            He sat next to a sickly old man on the bed. "Father, the Northerners have sent messengers!  Perhaps they have found a cure to the Sickness."

            "Don't be hasty child," his whole body shakes as he is overcome by a fit of coughing. "Ask them before making assumptions."

            "Friends from the North, have you any remedy for this Sickness that has been plaguing our town?"

            "Mayhap our friends would like to recuperate from their long journey before holding a meeting." The old man wheezed out the sentence before the Captain could reply.

            "Of course, excuse me; my manners have deserted me since this disease began.  Would you like to rest?"

            "We would be most grateful." Kirk was truly grateful; this would give him the much needed time to figure out what was happening in the city to the North.

            The teenager stood and turned saying, "Follow me."  He led them through town by the dying daylight and bid them a good night's rest when he stopped in front of a building.  They assumed it was an inn.

            Peering through the window into a room lighted only by torches, Kirk studied the crowd.  "We need information. McCoy, find out what you can about this illness. Spock, find out if anyone's seen Scotty.  I'll ask around for information from the North." The landing party entered the building and split up; meandering around for any useful conversations.

            Spock sat and listened. Vulcan's hearing is much better than humans and it was easy to depict the important topics.

            Kirk headed for the bar. He leaned over the counter and spoke to the bartender addressing him. "You haven't happened to get any information from the North, have you?"

             "No one has come down from there for three months."

            "Thanks." With his eyes, he roamed the tables scattered around the room.

            "Who is it that would like to know?"  Kirk spun back to the counter to face the bartender.

            "Just me."

            The man gave a crooked smile, "And the people you came in with?"

            "They're interested in other matters."

            "A woman came from that direction five mornings ago. She carried the Sickness.  Said she was from the North but refused to speak to the elders."

            "Did you talk to her?"  

            "Only a little.  From her description, the Sickness is worse up there than it is here.  Apparently, only a few elders remain in her village."

            After realizing he had nothing more to tell, Kirk asked some questions: Is she still alive? Has anyone else come down here? Did she mention anything else?  Each was answered with a no. "Thanks." he said again and began to wander aimlessly around the room.  But that was the only information he found.

            The last of the landing party had had the most luck.  McCoy was the brother of a man with a case of the Sickness; he wished to see if anyone knew anything about the disease.

            "Does he have a severe case or a light one?"

            "I don't know. How can I tell?"

            "Does he cough up blood every few minutes or is his breathing unsteady?"

            "He coughs up blood." McCoy went about this for quite some time until the information became decreasingly useful.  When he felt there was nothing more to learn, he joined the Captain and Spock at a vacant table.

            "It starts out with a rash on the neck.  For about a week that's all it is.  Then, the victim becomes weak and their breathing unbalanced.  Depending on the person, this can last completely different amounts of time. Finally they cough up blood until they die." McCoy thought for a minute then added, "The Sickness began about three months ago."

            "That's when they lost connection with the North, maybe that's the reason."  Kirk thought out loud.  "Did you have any luck with Scotty's location?"

            The Vulcan raised an eyebrow.  "Luck?"

            "Did you hear anything about him?"

            "It appears that none have seen him. It was also three months ago when a 'clump of lights fell from the sky.'"

            "Maybe it was a shuttle or a spacecraft of some sort." suggested McCoy.

            "These people have yet to work towards space."

            "Let's get some rest, we can discuss more in the morning." The Captain headed for the stairs.

            In the morning, there was no time to discuss.  Once at the bottom of the stair, the first man they had met on this planet came bounding toward them.

            "Come, come, we have much to do today."

            "What's your name?"  McCoy asked, curiosity getting the better of him. Some-thing must not have translated right because the teen gave him a funny look and said, "Follow me."

            He led them deeper into town where the buildings began to increase in size.  In the center was a large dome-shaped structure.  He entered and kneeled in front of a large table in the middle of the room.  "I have brought you the messengers from the North."

            "Please sit down and tell us any news from your tribe." There were six elder males and four elder females.  The woman standing at the head of the table was the one who had spoken.

            They sat and listened for a while, Kirk pretending his limited knowledge was a whole lot larger.  Time passed and things were looking pretty good when the man seated next to Spock asked, "Why do you not remove your hat when the lady speaks?"

            "We had not realized that you did so down here." Kirk covered.

            "We would be obliged if you would do so anyway." Spock raised an eyebrow at the captain.  Kirk shrugged, what else could be said?

            Spock lifted his cap and, to the shock of the elders, his ears came to points. "Demon!" one shouted. And that would be the way a hanging was set for that afternoon.

            "What are we going to do, Jim?" McCoy was pacing the small jail cell.

            "Calm down, Bones, we'll find a way."

            "They're going to hang him Jim!"

            "They won't if I give them a good reason not to."  The prisoners turned to see a young women standing near the door. Neither of them had heard her approach.

            "Who are you?" Kirk asked after a moment's thought, "And how can you understand us, they have our translators."

            "I am speaking standard, you don't need a translator. Here no one has a name of their own, we call each other by their profession or their relationship to you. But, you may call me Lyana, it means linguist.  We would have simply returned your machines but on the off-chance one was a weapon, we decided against it."

            Kirk asked, "Why are you helping us?"

            "For a chance to explore this language. I have the unique ability to tap into some-one's mind and learn the languages that they speak. They were going to hang me as well but I started playing with their minds and they've left me be ever since."

            "Which one of our minds did you 'tap' into?" McCoy asked suspiciously.

            "None of yours, now if you have nothing to defend your friend with, I'll be on my way." Lyana turned to leave.

            "Wait, can you help us?"

            "Of coarse I _can_, but the question is, why should I?"

            "Our friend is a Vulcan. Please convince them to let him go."

            "What is a Vulcan?"

            "A race similar to humans but they have different physical traits, like pointed ears, and mental traits, like being able to connect with another living being."

            "I would like to hear more, but for now, I will do my best for your friend." She left at that time, leaving the prisoners to wonder if their companion would make it.

            "They said they would let him live if he never came back and you had something worth their bother."

            Kirk chuckled, "They're afraid of you yet they asked for something in return for his freedom?"

            Lyana fidgeted. "They asked me to prevent him from returning and I wanted some-thing in return for my bother."

            "What do we have that you would want?"  The woman pulled her hair away from her neck to reveal a rash.

            "You want us to find a cure to the Sickness?!" McCoy only knew the symptoms, how could he find a remedy? "I'll do my best but without knowing the cause…" At this point Spock was escorted into the room, escorts leaving the instant they saw Lyana.

            "Wait, you said you didn't tap into any of our minds. How did you learn standard?"

            "Three months ago, a shuttle crashed a few miles east of here. They needed something but I couldn't understand them. I took the language from one of them; they needed an engineer, theirs had died in the crash."

            A light went on above Kirk's head. "Can you take us to them?"

            "I suppose so." She led them through town, away from the setting sun.  Lyana lead them until the light faded. "We're here." Here was a small ship, torn with several patches.

            "Captain, there are a few life signs within. One appears to be human." Spock, through their captivity, had managed to retain all his gear.

            Everyone entered the shuttle to find Scotty among several human-like creatures. They were having a cup of whiskey and Scotty was drinking them under the table!

            "Chief, what are you doing?" The captain was shocked.

            "We were having a celebration of me fixing their engines."

            "Why didn't you check in?"

            "I didn't have a communicator. Apparently, their warp drives contain this sort of rock that, once broken, releases a strange toxin. I got a rash from it."

            "That must be what was causing the Sickness!" McCoy's eye's lit up with the sudden realization. After a while of working at it, the doctor was able to find a cure to the Sickness and Spock and Scotty were able to repair the rest of the ship.

            When all was well and done Kirk flipped open his communicator. "Beam me up, Scotty!  Err… beam us up!"

_A/N: Well, I wrote this a really, really long time ago and just now decided to post it. It's not very good but I decided to post it and get feed back on it anyway._

_Please review!_


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